Cissy Funk by Kim Taylor

All the time, if you're Cissy Funk. It's bad enough that her father left the family to find work in Denver. After all, the Depression has hit the Colorado plains hard, leaving nothing but dust and empty farms behind. What makes it all worse is that he left Cissy and her brother alone to take care of their mother, Rose. Cold and Violent, Rose seems to hate Cissy with a passion. What Cissy can't figure out is why.

In the middle of the darkest moment in her life, when Rose leaves bruises on her every day, Cissy's aunt Vera comes to town. Vera is the only bright spot on the horizon. But Vera, too, has her secrets and her troubles. Just when Cissy feels that everything is working out for her at last, her whole world falls apart again. But Cissy Funk is an amazing girl, and she'll use every remarkable ounce of will and spirit she has to make the best out of the worst situation yet.

Unrated Critic Reviews for Cissy Funk

Publishers Weekly

Few of the characterizations go beyond the superficial, and when potentially shocking family secrets (about Vera's sexuality and Cissy's parentage) finally emerge, they have been so heavily foreshadowed and are so easily accepted by Cissy that they make little impact on readers.

KidsReads

Everything Cissy does, she does in an effort to forestall the rages that whirl around in her mother’s head, not unlike the sudden dust storms her mother is certain will come if Cissy and Jonas leave her by herself.